During the early part of the 20th century when it was considered unusual for a woman to travel alone, Blanche Payne visited many locations to document disappearing folk costume. Professor Payne, who taught costume history and apparel design at UW, was truly a pioneer in her field. She produced a seminal text on fashion history, "History of Costume," as well as an unpublished manuscript on folk costume from the former Yugoslavia. After Payne's death, her collected costume materials came to be stored in the collection of the Henry Art Gallery, while the archival materials traveled to Libraries Special Collections.

The materials in this database are a selection of approximately 1,200 photographs, postcards, pattern sheets and watercolor paintings.